POLITICO NIGHTLY: How Kamala Harris spent the pandemic

 

BY CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO AND RENUKA RAYASAM Presented by With help from Myah Ward HARRIS SUSPENDS HER CAMPAIGN VACATION — When, in December of last year, Kamala Harris abandoned her quest to become the next president of the United States before a single vote was cast, she seemed to be acknowledging that her 2019 had not gone the way she expected. Tagged by most Democrats as the biggest political talent in the field, she spent a large part of the year vacillating on the merits of Medicare for All. When it was all over, some insiders began to whisper that maybe her political instincts were overrated. Yet here we are: Nine months later, her decision to quit 2020 before it even started looks like one of the smartest political moves of the last 12 months. By stepping aside before she suffered defeat at the hands of Democratic voters, Harris put herself in position to play an outsize role in the two of the biggest stories of 2020: the coronavirus pandemic and the national moment of reckoning about racial injustice. From the confines of her D.C. condo, she willed her way back into the national consciousness and kept up the pressure by pushing for legislation on police reform as well as bills to confront the racial and ethnic disparities of the virus; to provide monthly $2,000 stimulus checks; to ensure health providers involved in testing, treatment and vaccines receive bias and anti-racism training. Harris would have been in the spotlight even without the virus and the George Floyd protests, and she would have been considered for the ticket without them, too. And the demands of a presidential campaign aren’t comparable to a few summer months spent mostly in lockdown. But it’s easy to see how the events of 2020 made her an even more obvious choice. During Harris’ run for president, she was criticized for shifting her central animating themes and for overseeing a dysfunctional, leaky operation. Yet when she’s spoken this summer, it’s been clear where she stands on the biggest issues of the day. One notable exception came when she struggled to answer a simple question from Stephen Colbert about how she could come together with Biden after their debate exchange in Miami over segregation. But mostly, her ability to stay on message and run a drama-free veepstakes operation sent a message to Biden — perhaps a calculated one — that she could be a trusted partner. Harris’ work on police reform after the Floyd protests has helped her neutralize her mixed record as a criminal justice reformer that has long irked progressive Democrats. Her focus on the devastating impacts of coronavirus on communities of color has helped demonstrate to voters, and Biden, that she was putting her head down and working after spending much of 2019 on the road campaigning for president. Harris was well positioned to run for president again in 2024 regardless of whether she appeared on the 2020 ticket. But now, she can be Biden’s understudy, and the likeliest inheritor of the coalition, and the party, that Barack Obama built. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly: Coronavirus Special Edition. I want to make masala dosas with Mindy Kaling and Kamala Harris and compare notes on Indian moms. Reach out rrayasam@politico.com or on Twitter at @renurayasam.   A message from PhRMA: America’s biopharmaceutical companies are sharing manufacturing capabilities with each other so that once a treatment or vaccine is ready, they can get it to millions of people fast. And there’s no slowing down. America’s biopharmaceutical companies will continue working day and night until they beat coronavirus. More.   FIRST IN NIGHTLY TOWNS FEAR GOWNS — Earlier this summer, University of Virginia students packed bars, rental houses, apartments and fraternity houses as part of Midsummers, a party and reunion tradition of students, higher education reporter Bianca Quilantan writes. Watching the surge in large gatherings on social media and hearing from concerned residents, Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker called UVA’s plan to bring students back to campus a “recipe for disaster.” At a virtual press conference, Walker said local officials had little power to control student behavior and that their only option would be to work with the university president and Gov. Ralph Northam. The university ended up delaying undergraduate in-person instruction and residence hall move-in dates by two weeks and scolded students for their recklessness. “If such behavior continues, we will not make it long into the fall semester before a significant outbreak occurs and we then need to send students home,” Dean of Students Allen Groves wrote in a letter to students. “That’s the self-interested motivation to do better.” Across the country, it’s move-in season for colleges, and while universities are desperately trying to save their academic year and preserve the finances of struggling schools, local officials are bracing for a virus explosion among young people who live in tight quarters, don’t follow social distancing rules and often behave as though they are young and invincible. In Chapel Hill, N.C., the county health director wants classes at UNC to be fully online for the first five weeks of the semester. In Athens, Ga., the mayor is warning that University of Georgia students could put his residents in danger if the city can't enforce mask mandates and a 10 p.m. last call. In West Lafayette, Ind., home of Purdue University, the mayor is banking on the “Protect Purdue pledge” that pushes masks and hand washing to keep students and his city safe. FROM THE HEALTH DESK RUSSIA RUSHES IN — Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that his country has approved a Covid-19 vaccine for public use, even before clinical trials are complete — making it the first shot worldwide to clear that hurdle. Russia’s announcement quickly drew skepticism from scientists. Several candidates from U.S., European and Chinese companies are in final-stage trials with thousands of volunteers to determine whether the shots work. The Russian vaccine has yet to enter this last phase of testing: a Phase III clinical trial. Health care reporter Sarah Owermohle spoke with Paul Offit, a University of Pennsylvania vaccine expert, about the Russian vaccine, developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute. This conversation has been edited. What do we know about the Russian vaccine? It appears to be two separate vaccines combined into one, both of which are based on so-called replication-defective adenoviruses — meaning that the adenoviruses that normally cause disease can’t, because they have been engineered so they can’t reproduce themselves. But what they can do is make the coronavirus spike protein. Basically, you’re injected with these two strains, then in your cells you make the coronavirus spike protein and you make the antibodies to the spike protein. When Vladimir Putin says that it looks good, it’s safe, it’s effective, what he means is that there have been these patients presumably producing antibodies — and nobody died. In general, what are the limitations with an accelerated timeline like this? What worries me a little bit about this Russian announcement is that the [Trump] administration may see this as a gauntlet being thrown down and somehow Russia is ahead — when they are not ahead at all. What is the takeaway here? There is nothing novel here: They’ve done a small Phase I trial of 30 people. They haven’t started a Phase III trial yet. President Vladimir Putin gets up and says that they have something, basically that they have won the race. Not true. SUPPLY LINES — Months ago, city hospitals were fighting over essential medical supplies as Covid cases surged. That’s not happening anymore. But doctors, nurses and caregivers say they’re still struggling with resources, especially at smaller health facilities and in rural areas. In the latest episode of POLITICO Dispatch, health care reporter Tucker Doherty breaks down what he learned from interviews with dozens of frontline workers. 20200811 Politico Dispatch Audio Marker   PLUG IN WITH PLAYBOOK AT THE DNC : Join POLITICO Playbook Co-authors Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman from Aug. 18 to 20 for "Plug in with Playbook," our new political show making its virtual debut at this year's conventions. Get the latest developments on presumptive nominee Joe Biden's campaign, analysis of down-ballot races, a look at this cycle’s swing states, along with other election-related updates. Featured guests include DNC chair Tom Perez, convention CEO Joe Solmonese, Biden campaign senior adviser Symone Sanders, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and others. REGISTER HERE.     COVID-2020 FOOTBALL BECOMES A POLITICAL FOOTBALL — On Monday, when news broke that the Big Ten might cancel its college football season, your host got a call from a source. Jeff Hewitt is a Democratic strategist who works in Texas politics these days, but he’s from Ohio and told me, “I bleed Ohio State.” Hewitt had a theory: If college football gets canceled in the Midwest it would cost Trump the presidency. I laughed, but Hewitt was serious. “This is devastating to many fans and that anger will show itself in November,” he said. Today the Big Ten, along with the Pac-12 (where your hosts’ loyalties lie), announced that it would postpone its fall sports season. I reached out to a number of Republican strategists in Big Ten states to test Hewitt’s theory. They were split. “The cancellation of college football would be a real political problem,” said Mike DuHaime, a New Jersey political strategist who has worked for George W. Bush, John McCain, Chris Christie and for the Republican National Committee. A lot of people were looking forward to sports as a distraction from a crappy 2020 and the loss of college football underscores just how bad things still are, DuHaime said. Some people might think the cancellation is an overreaction, he said. Others will see it as part of the failure to act more decisively in the spring and summer. But either way, they will take it out on incumbents. Jeff Timmer, a Michigan Republican strategist who opposes Trump and a Michigan State alum, said the news has blown up his social media feeds, sparking more outrage than school closures or armed protests at Michigan’s statehouse. “It’s a big cultural tie that binds us,” Timmer said. “We can look around the world and say it didn’t need to happen. The chance to save the college football season was last spring or this summer.” Though Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is trying to save them this fall, saying it’s game on in Florida. No, college football fans won’t blame the president, said Scott Hagerstrom, who worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign and is also a Michigan State alum. After all, Trump’s the one calling for the teams to get back on the field. “That’s a ridiculous presumption that if college football does not move forward, that hurts Republicans,” he said. “I give voters much more credit than that.” And Charlie Gerow, a Republican strategist who is in Penn State territory, called the theory “looney.” He agrees that people aren’t going to be happy about the Big Ten’s decision, but those who pin the blame on Trump weren’t really swing voters anyway. “Those people aren’t up for grabs in this election,” he said. “They are locked in for the other team.” THE NEXT KAMALA HARRIS? So what could happen to California's junior U.S. Senate seat now that Harris has been chosen as Biden’s running mate? If the Biden-Harris ticket wins on Nov. 3, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom would select Harris’ replacement — a right afforded by the U.S. Constitution. And with Harris as one of four women of color in the overwhelmingly white and male U.S. Senate, Newsom may be lobbied to consider the delicate balancing act of ethnic, gender, demographic and geographic considerations in the nation's most populous state, writes California Playbook author Carla Marinucci. Newsom sources have said the governor wouldn't even begin to consider a replacement until early 2021. Still, it’s never too early to speculate.       AROUND THE NATION ZERO INTOLERANCE — POLITICO's Daniel Lippman wondered how many people the D.C. police have fined for not wearing a mask in public, which was required (with some exceptions) by Mayor Muriel Bowser in late July with a threat of up to a $1,000 fine for violations. The answer: None. The D.C. police have issued zero fines for people not wearing a mask in public. "The Metropolitan Police Department continues to do our part to help stop the spread of Covid-19 in our city by encouraging and educating the public on wearing masks and adhering to the Mayor’s orders," an MPD spokesperson said to Lippman today. "Voluntary compliance is our desired goal."   BECOME A CHINA WATCHER: Mounting concerns over foreign interference are casting a shadow on the U.S. election this fall. Are concerns that Beijing might seek to influence the results valid? Join the conversation and gain expert insight from informed and influential voices in government, business, law, tech and academia. China Watcher is as much a platform as it is a newsletter. Subscribe today.     THE GLOBAL FIGHT WE ARE NEVER EVER GETTING BACK TOGETHER — “We will be back.” With those four words, uttered at the 2019 Munich Security Conference, Joe Biden warmed the hearts of Europeans despairing at the erratic, indifferent and at times openly hostile foreign policy of Trump, writes contributing editor Paul Taylor. But even if the Democratic presidential contender wins the election, it’ll take more than warm feelings to get the transatlantic relationship back on track. With or without a reliable partner in the White House, the European Union and Europe’s leading powers will have to learn to live in a world in which Washington may still be the ultimate guarantor of the Continent’s security, but won’t have the bandwidth to fix all the region’s many problems. And in which they will be required to do more to prove the utility of the transatlantic partnership. A poll worker carries 2020 presidential primary ballots that were dropped off at a post office today in Hartford, Conn. Gov. Ned Lamont signed an executive order allowing all registered voters to vote absentee in the primary. | Spencer Platt/Getty Images ASK THE AUDIENCE Nightly asks you: How has the pandemic changed your relations to sports? Do you think it will permanently change how much you watch sports and attend live games when the pandemic ends? Let us know your thoughts, and we’ll include select answers in our Friday edition. NIGHTLY NUMBER 76 The number of human volunteers Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine was tested on before it was approved for use in the country today. PARTING WORDS BIG BANG THEORY — Catherine Kim writes: In 2009, you could immediately spot the cool kids at my middle school in Seoul based on a single item: face masks. The masks specifically had to be from Sakun, a Korean streetwear brand that became known for its black masks with teeth marks printed on the front. It was common all over Korea to see 15-year-olds with thick bangs and Sakun masks, only their eyes visible. The trend first kicked off when a member of Big Bang, the most popular boy band in Korea at the time, wore a Sakun mask in a series of selfies in 2008. Until that point, face masks were occasionally worn by sick people in Korea, but now they started to go mainstream: as a way to cover pimples, block out air pollution and, eventually, protect wearers from getting or spreading airborne viruses. When the Covid-19 outbreak hit, it wasn’t surprising that Koreans reached for their masks en masse even before the government required them to, or that the government began producing some 186 million masks each week for a country of 51.6 million people. Masks are a completely normal part of Korean life. It took more than a decade of pop culture, air pollution and epidemics to integrate masks into Korean culture. For the U.S., coronavirus might just be the beginning of a more lasting shift.   A message from PhRMA: America’s biopharmaceutical companies are sharing their knowledge and resources more than ever before to speed up the development of new medicines to fight COVID-19. They’re working with doctors and hospitals on over 1,100 clinical trials. And there’s no slowing down. America’s biopharmaceutical companies will continue working day and night until they beat coronavirus. Because science is how we get back to normal. See how biopharmaceutical companies are working together to get people what they need during this pandemic.   Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter Renuka Rayasam @renurayasam   FOLLOW US

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